''Noropithecus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

Old World monkey Old World monkeys are primates in the family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus '' Papio''), red colobus (genus '' Piliocolob ...

uncovered from the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...

formations of Buluk,

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. It is known from a fragment of a right

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

. It is believed to have been

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

and

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

Palaeoecology

The

dental microwear Dental microwear analysis is a method to infer diet and behavior in extinct animals, especially in fossil specimens. It has been used on a variety of taxa, including hominids, victoriapithecids, amphicyonids, canids, ursids, hyaenids, hyaenodont ...

of ''N. bulukensis'' indicates it ate grass and leaves, in contrast with its bunodont dentition and previous conclusions based on its dental morphology that it was a

frugivore A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...

. This discrepancy can potentially be explained by the fact that dental microwear only reflects the diet in the last few days to weeks of an animal's life, and the studied individual may have predominantly eaten fruit in its life while happening to have mainly eaten leaves and grass in the last days of its life.

References

Old World monkeys Prehistoric monkeys Monotypic prehistoric primate genera Fossil taxa described in 2009 Miocene mammals of Africa Miocene primates of Africa {{oldworld-monkey-stub